The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room

The doctor’s waiting room wasn’t full; there were three or four sitting in a circle looking at magazines waiting to see the OB/GYN. This patient was about eight months pregnant with her first baby, one-thousand miles away from her mother, living in Savannah, and prepping for natural childbirth. (What was she thinking?!)

Suddenly the door to the doctor’s office blew open and a very pregnant woman came into the quiet room like a gust of wild wind. The waiting patients looked up at the interruption to see her stagger up to the receptionist’s desk. She had this patient’s full attention when she grabbed her pregnant belly and screamed that her baby was coming, and the baby was coming NOW!

The calm, all-business receptionist started her welcome-to-Dr. Dekle’s-office-routine speech and asked her name, her doctor’s name, her insurance. When the very pregnant woman took a deep breath after a painful contraction, she answered, “I AM HAVING THIS BABY RIGHT NOW, AND I DON’T HAVE A DOCTOR ‘CAUSE I JUST GOT OUTTA PRISON!”

The waiting patients were at full attention now, and this patient dropped her magazine.

The receptionist didn’t seem to be panicked, and she continued her questioning. “How many pregnancies have you had, miss?”, as though she was going to fill out a questionnaire form. The very pregnant woman sucked in her breath in pain and said, “THIS IS MY FIFTH BABY AND IF YOU DON’T GET ME ON A TABLE, I WILL DROP IT RIGHT HERE!”

This waiting patient crossed her legs so her baby would not drop on the floor.  She thought she was feeling some childbirth pains too.

The receptionist finally got the message and moved fast. She rushed around the desk to help the very pregnant woman into an examining room. A baby cried just minutes after her quick departure to the back. Sirens roared as an ambulance came to the back of the doctor’s office, and mother and baby were taken to the hospital down the street for post partum care.

One waiting patient left hastily in the middle of the confusion, but this patient stayed to find out how this exciting story would end.

When it was her turn for an exam, Dr. Dekle and his nurse Rosie were still shaking. In her southern drawl, Rosie proudly and excitingly told this patient that she “barely got that woman’s draws off and that baby just slipped right out”, and Dr. Dekle bravely caught it before it hit the floor!

This patient left with full confidence that her doctor could handle any emergency. Even though her mama was one thousand miles away and natural childbirth was terrifying, Dr. Dekle was fully competent and she could trust him to deliver her baby - and he did! E.J. Nader arrived about a month later weighing 6 lb. 4 oz., and he didn’t land on the floor! Mama came one thousand miles to help this patient with her new baby boy.  

Note from this patient: Twenty-one hours of natural childbirth WAS very terrifying, but worth it!